Chapter 14
Fourteen
Marcus tugged at the cuff of his black button-down shirt and smoothed his hand over his deep blue tie. Matched with a pair of black slacks, his entire outfit was what Rafe would have called boring.
But Marcus wanted to be boring. He wanted to sink into the shadows and not be noticed by the roving eyes within the nightclub, but there was no chance of that. Marcus rarely made appearances at The Bank, and when he did, the others always seemed to take notice.
The Bank was an exclusive bar that catered only to vampires. But that didn’t mean only vampires were roaming the club. Humans worked as servers and entertainment.
There were more than a few personal pets wandering around, their flashy collars reflecting the dancing lights.
The idea of pets was something Marcus had always struggled with.
The human was well aware their owner was a vampire, and they just willingly served as an in-house source of food, sex, and other entertainment.
The pets even had their own society of cliques and rules.
The most expensive and extravagant collars proved that the pet was highly valued by the master.
But what they were all seeming to ignore was that pets didn’t last long.
Humans weren’t meant for that much constant blood donation, and vampires tended to play too rough.
The idea that the master would turn the pet into a vampire was an absolute fairy tale.
There was no happy ending. After a while, pets disappeared and no one talked about it. It ruined the fun, endless party image.
It made Marcus glad that he and his brothers never indulged in such things.
Rafe liked to dress up his playthings and one-night stands in fancy collars, but those weren’t true pets.
Those people didn’t know what they were playing at, and they were shuffled out his door the next morning with no clear memory of what had happened.
The few humans moving around him tonight either worked at the club or belonged to someone else, but they all had the same job: to be a source of fresh blood.
And every last one of them within the club was a willing donor.
At least, that was what the law said. Marcus wasn’t entirely convinced, but he had bigger problems to worry about besides whether some of the humans had been coerced into their servitude.
Colored lights flashed around him and bodies writhed in time to the throbbing bass of the music pumped from the speakers at the far end of the large room.
Marcus wove his way through the crowd, his eyes constantly skimming for familiar faces.
Particularly, threatening faces. There was no sign of Meryl or Cain so far, but there were others who were not fans of the Variks, and there were more than a few who were not fans of Aiden, which naturally made them enemies of the Variks.
When they’d decided to follow their mother and become vampires, not one of them had contemplated the notion that they would have to find a way to maneuver through an entirely new society with new rules and new politics.
It wasn’t too different from human life, but it definitely had the potential to be bloodier.
At the back of the long room, he climbed a set of old wooden stairs that creaked under his feet. There was a set of double doors that were opened by a pair of men in tuxedos.
“Good evening, Mr. Varik,” they intoned at the same time. Marcus gave a small nod as he walked through.
A soothing hush fell over everything as the doors were closed behind him, blocking out the noise from the first floor.
Where the nightclub was loud and garish, this club on the second floor was polished and ordered.
The floors were covered in a thick burgundy rug that seemed to soak up the noise while cushioning feet.
The walls and doorways were all covered in rich mahogany wood.
The club reminded him of the exclusive clubs that he was a member of while he lived in London nearly two centuries ago. Back when he’d still been human.
The key difference here was that nearly everyone was a vampire.
Humans still worked there, offering up refreshments of one form or another.
There were a handful of pets, but they sat quietly on little cushioned stools beside their masters.
Their faces were all composed but bored as they waited on their master’s desire.
It all had a slightly civilized air to it versus the chaos that reigned on the first floor.
Of course, that civilized pretense was all an act. Everything could fall apart in a heartbeat if someone said the wrong thing to the wrong person. Or maybe simply snacked where they shouldn’t have.
Wandering through the wood-paneled rooms with painted portraits of unknown people, Marcus finally spotted Aiden in a shadowy corner, seated in a high-back leather chair.
His dark eyes were sweeping the room slowly, taking in all the occupants.
When those eyes landed on Marcus, he gave a small nod and returned to his perusal.
Marcus was surprised by Aiden when meeting him among the vampires for the first time. With their own kind, Aiden was quiet and reserved. He rarely spoke and never showed emotion. It was so different from the laughing, loving man he’d met when he’d first started dating Julianna so many years ago.
Aiden had swept his mother off her feet, which was no easy feat considering she’d already been burned by their biological father.
But then, Marcus could see why Julianna had fallen in love with him.
His soul was filled with love and kindness that he not only showered on Julianna but on her sons as well.
When they finally met, Aiden treated them as if they were his flesh and blood. He cared for them and did everything he could to teach them and show them the love they stopped receiving from their biological father.
In his own way, Marcus saw Aiden as his father before he became his sire. He respected his quiet strength and dignity. He had a strict code of honor, which became even more important when he learned Aiden was a vampire.
Neither he nor his brothers blamed Aiden for what happened to their mother.
They were grateful that he tried to save her life.
She had been at death’s door, and the doctors had failed at every turn.
There had been no other choice. But the vampirism had driven her from subtle madness to brutal hostility when triggered.
Violence that was made ten times worse anytime she saw Aiden.
Marcus fought back the swell of sadness that hit him every time he saw Aiden. The man had risked everything to save the woman he loved and when he succeeded, the cost was that they could never be together. It wasn’t fair.
But regardless of the pain it caused him, he remained as close as he possibly could be to help her sons and keep his family safe.
Stopping a server in a sharp black uniform as he passed, Marcus ordered a dark whiskey, which was simply half whiskey and half blood. He then paused next to the open seat beside Aiden.
“May I?” he asked out of habit.
A small smile formed on Aiden’s lips and he nodded. It was an old ritual for them. Aiden made it clear that they were all welcome to visit with him at any time, but Marcus clung to old manners and rules of society. It gave him a sense of comfort in a constantly changing world.
“It’s good to see you again,” Aiden murmured as Marcus sat.
“And you. Rafe mentioned that you were in Rio briefly.”
Aiden’s smile shifted to a smirk. “Rafe usually isn’t the one with the intel. I’m assuming Winter has been keeping an eye on me.”
“Always.” Winter was a sneaky bastard. He made it his business to keep an eye on everyone who interested him, and that included his own family.
“I went to Rio because I thought the Carnival season would be a nice distraction and I ended up staying for a few months.”
“It sounds like you found your distraction,” Marcus murmured, but Aiden didn’t answer, not that Marcus was really expecting him to. Aiden didn’t reveal much about himself when he was out among the other vampires. He didn’t trust them, and neither did Marcus.
“How is Julianna?” Aiden asked and Marcus could only answer with a frown. Aiden needed to know, but he hated causing his sire any kind of pain.
Aiden shifted in his seat, moving toward the edge while positioning himself so that he was turned toward Marcus. “What has happened?” Aiden surprised him by placing his hand over Marcus’s wrist. “Who was hurt?”
“Bel,” Marcus admitted softly.
Aiden’s hand tightened on his wrist, and he shifted again as if preparing to launch to his feet. “When? Has he recovered? Does he need me?”
“Last night and he has fully recovered.” Marcus placed his hand over Aiden’s and met his gaze. “He’s fine. So is Mother.”
Aiden sighed and sat back in his chair, releasing Marcus. “What happened?”
Marcus shook his head a little. He waited until the server dropped off drinks for both of them and left.
He picked his up and sipped the alcohol and blood mix.
When he’d chosen to become a vampire, he never thought he’d become accustomed to the taste of blood, let alone long for it, but his new hunger soon had him craving the coppery taste far more than any food.
He knew that he didn’t need to eat food, but the action gave him a little bit of normalcy to cling to.
It gave a rhythm and predictability to his day that would otherwise be missing.
And now, it gave him a chance to spend at least one hour with Ethan. He wouldn’t trade that short time with Ethan for anything.
“We don’t know. Bel was alone with her and said that she’d been having a fine evening. He is unsure of what set her off, but it was fast and extremely violent.” Marcus hated to ask, but it was the one thing that he could think of that couldn’t be accounted for. “Were you near Bel’s last night?”